Watchdog questions millions spent each year on shuttered US Embassy in Venezuela

MIAMI AP The U S administration employs a sizable staff of Venezuelans and spends upward of million annually for upkeep of the shuttered American embassy and other diplomatic properties in Caracas despite having broken relations with President Nicol s Maduro s cabinet in according to a new watchdog summary The description published on Friday by the State Department s Office of Inspector General criticized U S administrators for failing to conduct a required cost-benefit analysis to determine whether taxpayers should continue to foot the bill for the precaution operations and maintenance of the -acre embassy compound and five residences no longer housing American diplomats The Trump administration has emphasized cost-cutting efforts across the establishment and remade U S foreign protocol including launching a military strike on a boat off the Venezuelan coast that has upended drug busts at sea and ramped up tensions with the adversarial South American regime The first Trump administration broke ties with Maduro and recognized an opponent as Venezuela s legitimate leader in a failed attempt to force the socialist leader from power As part of the breakdown in relations the State Department in March suspended operations at its embassy in Caracas and evacuated all diplomats fearing a takeover of the hilltop compound US Embassy work that remains in Venezuela A contingent of Venezuelans employed by the State Department was unfailingly known to have stayed behind to advance U S interests and relations between the two governments although outwardly hostile never ceased absolutely The size of that mission and an account of their behind-the-scenes work have not been made general The inspector general overview while focused on compliance with U S policies nevertheless provides a rare glimpse into that sensitive work much of it risky given the Maduro regime s record for jailing Americans opponents and sometimes regular Venezuelans accused of conspiring with U S imperialists Relations have further soured over an American buildup of warships in the Caribbean and a strike on a boat that the Trump administration says was piloted by gang members trafficking drugs It s not a bad idea to have minimum baseline operations at the embassy declared Geoff Ramsey a senior analyst on Venezuela at the Atlantic Council in Washington If relations ever get restored it s critical that we have a club on the ground that s ready to move the relationship forward But if we re spending millions of dollars just to maintain a scant empty buildings with no end in sight I think it s fair to raise questions about the price tag Watchdog criticizes parts of remote Venezuela mission The -page statement was based on an inspection this year of the so-called Venezuela Affairs Unit which is run out of a narrow former training room called the submarine at the U S Embassy in neighboring Colombia The office was initially staffed with U S diplomats as a stopgap way to manage relations with Maduro s regime and it was hoped pave the way for his quick replacement by a executive aligned with the U S Since then the number of employees working at the remote mission has increased to the watchdog commented adding that it could find no evidence that the State Department conducted a review to justify the staffing increases The unit was headed until January by career diplomat Francisco Palmieri who also served as the top American diplomat to Colombia at a time when the U S lacked an ambassador to either country The dual role of leading one of the largest U S overseas embassies in Colombia while running a highly exceptional remote mission negatively affected the Venezuela Affairs Unit the account revealed It cited the difficulty Palmieri faced reviewing all sensitive diplomatic cables and participating in meetings supporting secret talks with Maduro functionaries Much of the unit s work appears to be supported by locally employed staff in Venezuela At least particular of those employees appear to be working from the embassy compound itself according to the record which located instances of unauthorized renovations to two embassy buildings After lowering the U S flag at the embassy the U S reached an agreement with Switzerland to serve as the protecting power of the diplomatic compound The total annual budget to patronage the operations in Caracas including pay for local staff stands at million The U S routinely keeps local staff or names a third country as a protecting power to help maintain abandoned executive properties as it did in Syria when the U S closed its embassy at the start of the civil war in a senior State Department official announced The inspection which concluded in March praised several initiatives by the Venezuela Affairs Unit including establishing a WhatsApp channel that promoted content reaching individuals monthly However the watchdog also issued seven recommendations for shoring up compliance with State Department policies on issues ranging from management of diplomatic residences and staffing levels to proper use of a bicycle fleet and cloud-based program by staff in Caracas Rules require that U S embassies annually identify any excess properties not being fully utilized or that no longer make economic sense to maintain In Venezuela the U S owns five properties including the ambassador s residence the home of the deputy chief of mission and three apartments